Listen to the sky by Anérea

Listen to the sky

Ziggy's worldbuilding in Not All Things (and even more now in Brief Encounter ) really brings the frozen Northern Waste to life for me.

And the tale of Arvedui has also always grabbed at my heart as one of those times where I just want to shake some sense into the characters and change their fates, but — oh well...

(In the The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, we're told that Arvedui escaped the Witch-king by fleeing North with his men and received aid from the Lossoth in the Ice-bay of Forochel. When Cirdan learned this he sent a ship to look for them. The Lossoth called the ship the "sea-monster" and counselled them all to remain on land with them until the Witch-king's grip weakened with the coming of summer. But Arvedui didn't take the choice that seemed less hopeful, as prophesied by Malbeth the Seer at his birth, and the rest is history...)

Láilá sighed as she watched the sledders return, having drawn the southern king and his company as near to the sea-monster as was safe on the frozen water, where the seamen had met them with a small boat. The ice was still solid and thick in the bay, despite the sun moving into spring; the Witch-king’s grasp on winter was tighter this season, and today his fingers reached across the deceptively calm blue sky in faint feathery ice clouds: a sure sign that a severe storm was coming.

She would miss her new friend, Fíriel. In the short time they had dwelt near them, she had added many more Westron words to the few she already knew — yet not enough, it would seem, to translate the severity of the hidden danger the sky spoke of. Yrjänä had urged Arvedui to wait until the storm passed, and although Láilá had not understood all the words, Fíriel had clearly repeated her warnings too. But to no avail. Fíriel had said her husband was less amenable to the council of others since receiving a head wound in the battle with the Witch King’s army, and this was clearly evident now. Arvedui had gone on at length — only partly intelligible, even to her — about how his people needed him, how they had been away far too long already, how skilled the Elven seamen were, how the weather was so calm, and how valuable the pretty but otherwise useless trinket was that he pulled off his own finger and pressed into Yrjänä’s hand in thanks.

Láilá leaned in as Yrjänä put his arm around her, both gazing westwards where the sea-monster was now slowly gliding away between the floes towards open water. He heaved a deep sigh too. She looked at him, and he at her, but there was no need to speak; they shared the same sad yet resigned thought.

Chapter End Notes

Láilá is a Sami name meaning "Wise"
Yrjänä is the Lossoth chieftain in The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

In the Western Cape, high wispy fingers of cloud streaking across an otherwise clear sky always warn of an approaching cold front in the next two days, so I assume the Lossoth would be very clued up on the sky's messages.

Details about Arvedui, the Lossoth, and the Ice Bay of Forochel can be found on Tolkien Gateway.